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Thankful Thursday ~ Growing Through His Word

“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven
and do not return there but water the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
(Isaiah 55:10-11 ESV)

I have to admit, I do not use any reading plans. I have tried, tried, and tried again to stick to a yearly reading plan, but I have failed every time. I seem to loose steam by the time I get to the Old Testament book of Leviticus. However, I still am reading His Word. Sometimes I read an entire book, and find so many new nuggets that boggle my mind. Not so much that I do not understand, but that I find out something about God’s plan in the Old Testament that I had overlooked before.

Take the book of Daniel as an example. I read the book this past Summer again, and was I in for a ride. Although I have studied Daniel before, this time it really hit me that Darius and Nebuchadnezzar believed in the One True and Living God. How could I have missed this before. It is plain and simple written in Daniel 4 and 6.

Today I am thankful that the Protestant Reformation movement of the 16th century enabled the people to read and understand the Bible in their native tongue. Today we not only get the Bible in our native tongue, but even different translations that help us understand His Word better and grow.

What are you thankful for this week? Please do share with us by leaving a link to your Thankful Thursday post below. Please remember that in the month of November, my friend Laurie will host TT at “Women Taking A Stand“.

Thank you for stopping by today. Remember: the Bible is available for you in different forms, read it and let God help you grow through it.

Love & peace,
Iris

Thankful Thursday Participants

1. Mia / Courtroom of Darkness
2. Six Crucial Prayers To Pray for Your Children (Includes FREE Printable)
3. Scripture Jewelry From Israel – The Perfect Gift
4. LaughingLady		 5. No Separation
6. bp
7. Meal Prep- Save Time and Money while Eating Healthy
8. Donna Reidland		 9. Blended Families Part 1 the Losses & the Gains
10. Shelly

Learn more about Thankful Thursday here.

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Thankful Thursday ~ Great Books

And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.
(Colossians 3:15 ESV)

There are many good books out on the market, but there are only a few great books. Of course the Bible still ranks for me #1 when it comes to books. But then again, the Bible is not only a great book; it is our guide to live a Godly life. Even though I have had many Bibles in my life, the latest edition is a Woman’s Study Bible that was given to me for review. You can read more about it in this post. It is a little different than the other Bibles I have. It has a ton of references, especially the history part I enjoy the most.

Harvest of RubiesThat brings me to another great book that I just finished reading. Although it is a novel, it has a great deal of history in it. The book is called “Harvest of Rubies” and I honestly finished reading it in 2 days. The author, Tessa Afshar, is bringing the Old Testament to life. Her main character, Sarah, has so much in common with me and my walk with God. I read the book via my Kindle App on my laptop and I have highlighted so many parts of the book. Yes, it is a novel, but Tessa added a lot of Psalms.

I think that the last time I read a great novel like this, was Randy Alcorn’s book “Safely Home“. Have you read that book?

I love to read and I wish I had more time for it. It is funny that when our son was little, it seamed I had more time to read. But then again, I was only working part-time when Daniel was under 5 🙂 .

Have you read any great books lately? Please do share with me in the comment section. I am always hungry for great books that have a great story line and writing. By the way, currently I am reading “Harvest of Gold“, which is the second part of “Harvest of Rubies”. Sarah is still the main character, but she will be going with Nehemiah to Jerusalem to rebuild the wall…

What are you thankful for this week? Please do share with us by leaving a link to your Thankful Thursday post below.

Thank you for stopping by today. Remember: Great books are out there, you just have to find them. Thanks for my friend Lori, I found these two great books.

Love & peace,
Iris

Thankful Thursday Participants

1. 4 Things Love Always Does–And Why It Matters
2. Your View of Parenting: Godly or Worldly?
3. Mia / The Shulamite and The Foxes
4. Uttley’s Take
5. Heather @ Becoming Titus 2 Women		 6. Feed A Family of 5 for $119
7. The Alarm
8. Sarah L — Heading Back to School Post Disaster Pt 3
9. An Impromptu Round Of Frisbee
10. Thankful Thursday		 11. The Glamorous French Housewife
12. Lorig / My Fragmented Journey
13. bp

Learn more about Thankful Thursday here.

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‘The Woman’s Study Bible’ – Review

“As the rain and the snow
come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”
~ Isaiah 55:10-11 (NIV)

Over the last couple of weeks I shared that I enjoy studying the Bible. I love digging deeper into His Word and maybe, by His grace and Holy Spirit, get a new perspective on hard to understand passages. Three weeks ago, I received an email from Sara Pence if I would be willing to take a look at the revised “Woman’s Study Bible” published by Thomas Nelson Bibles.

The study Bible arrived this past Monday. I know that people always say not to judge a book by its cover, but I personally like eye-catching covers. I guess that is the photographer in me. My first impression of the Bible was positive, feminine design and it is part of the ‘Signature Series’.

‘The Woman’s Study Bible’ is available in the King James Version; my review copy is the New International Version® (NIV). What I really enjoy in this particular study Bible are the introduction to each book. Each introduction is made of: ‘Title’ (where the name of the book comes from), Author, date it was written, background (including setting, purpose, audience, and literary characteristics), themes (why was the book written?) and a complete outline of each chapter.

The two other items that are appealing to me are the foot-notes (study help including references to other books of the Bible) and inspiring articles shared by Christian women like Anne Graham Lotz, Nancy Leigh DeMoss, Roberta Hromas, Linda Dillow, Kathy Troccoli, and more.

In the back of the Bible you will find several beautiful maps that show you the “World of the Patriarchs”, “The Exodus from Egypt”, “The Conquest of Canaan” and of course “Jerusalem in New Testament Times” and Paul’s missionary journeys.

I honestly can say that it will be a joy to study God’s Word with the help of this beautiful Woman’s Study Bible. If you would like to take a closer look at the Bible, please visit Thomas Nelson Bibles and view the online sample.

 

May the His Holy Spirit give us a fresh perspective on God’s Holy Word.

Love & peace,
Iris

(A free review copy was provided by Sara Pence from Shelton Interactive)

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Thankful Thursday ~ Different Perspective

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
(Colossians 3:16 ESV)

Over the past 1 1/2 years my home congregation has been without a senior pastor. I love my church and I am looking forward to whoever God has in mind for us. This past week, our congregation extended a call to a young pastor from Colorado. I am nosy, so I checked out a couple of his sermons that are available online. Well, as for me, I like him and I know he would be a great addition to our church body. But then again, God’s will be done.

I am very calm about all this; my calmness actually sort of scares me. I am usually really hyper when it comes to church. Believe me, these past months have been a little nerve wrecking, but I did not want to change churches. You know why? Because I love the people that make up our church body, we have wonderful ministry leaders, and the Word of God is taught. What else do I need? Well, okay, a senior pastor would be great. But everything in God’s timing.

You see, God’s Word is important in my life (and I hope in yours as well). I have several different Bible translations in my home and I am very thankful for that. You may wonder why I have the different Bible translations. Well, sometimes I like to get a different perspective. Two of my home Bibles are actually in my mother-tongue, German. And my favorite of the two German Bibles is the “Basis Bibel” (yes it is “Bibel” in German :)). Unfortunately this translation has currently only the New Testament and Psalms. Hopefully soon, the Basis Bibel has all of God’s Word.

So, this week I am thankful for God’s Word in different translations to see His Word from a different perspective. What are you thankful for this week? Please do share with us by leaving a link to your Thankful Thursday post below.

Thank you for stopping by this week. Remember: it is not a bad thing to read His Word in different translations; it is important that we do read and apply it.

Love & peace,
Iris

Thankful Thursday Participants

1. 28 Years of Marriage – WORK!
2. 11 Ways God Takes Amazing Care of Us
3. LaughingLady
4. It Feels Like Chaos
5. Goal Weight! Losing 60 Pounds!		 6. Heather @ Living In the Moment
7. The Opposite of Masculinity
8. Two Ways To Make The Most of This Season of Life
9. Journaling Gina
10. I Know You		 11. Fasting and Prayer Go Hand in Hand
12. Sarah @ The Fontenot Four
13. Sarah – Survivorship
14. bp
15. Inspirations from Phather Phil – Thankful Thursday: My Tallest Mountain

Learn more about Thankful Thursday here.

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